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Saturday, March 30, 2013 ��� Daily News 5A Opinion School security DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF TEHAMA COUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U NTY S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editor: There probably isn���t much we can do to stop some person that decides they are going to take a gun or a knife and go kill someone, but what can we do to protect our children in their schools? What do we really know about these defective people? The one thing we know about the ones attacking public places such as schools and theaters is that they seem to be intent on dying that day. They may want to force the police to kill them, but in many cases they commit suicide after they see the horror they have per- petrated. I���m sure there are people that can profile these nut jobs, and maybe that would be of some help. The problem there is that they seem to be very passive, quiet people up until they decide to start killing and of course we can���t just target all of they shy, or withdrawn people in our society as possible terrorists. I���ve looked around at some of our local schools and mostly what I���ve seen is they are not fenced in. Personally, I like that. School should feel open but maybe we should think on that some. I also haven���t noticed external video surveillance. That may be not a good thing. After all, if you Even though they all have see someone walking up to the classrooms, cafeterias, and school entrance with a gun, or assembly areas, the position any long narrow package, it���s of the rooms, the window arrangements are all time to lock the different. door, call the authorI suggest that the ities, and alarm the Your principals of each of staff. We definitely our schools get can improve our together collectively school security and in a meeting with the lockdown procelocal sheriff and police chiefs dures. Some of this will cost and start working on a plan money. I���ll make a donation. for each of the schools. I would also suggest that Mostly we need to improve our vigilance. We don���t need this be a topic for PTA meetfederal money or even state ings and perhaps and online money. Actually, we���ll proba- survey so we can get as much bly handle this thing better if input as possible from as we keep the bureaucrats out of many people as possibly. Fred Boest, Red Bluff it. Each school is unique. Turn Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN ��� Dan Logue, 1550 Humboldt Road, Ste. 4, Chico, CA 95928, 530-895-4217 STATE SENATOR ��� Jim Nielsen, 2635 Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico, CA 95928, (530) 879-7424, senator.nielsen@senate.ca.gov GOVERNOR ��� Jerry Brown, State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 5583160; E-mail: governor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE ��� Doug LaMalfa 506 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, 202-2253076. U.S. SENATORS ��� Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707. Fax (415) 3930710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224-0454. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes letters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All letters must be signed and provide the writer���s home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submitted will be considered for publication. Letters will be edited. Letters are published at the discretion of the editor. Mission Statement We believe that a strong community newspaper is essential to a strong community, creating citizens who are better informed and more involved. The Daily News will be the indispensible guide to life and living in Tehama County. We will be the premier provider of local news, information and advertising through our daily newspaper, online edition and other print and Internet vehicles. The Daily News will reflect and support the unique identities of Tehama County and its cities; record the history of its communities and their people and make a positive difference in the quality of life for the residents and businesses of Tehama County. How to reach us Main office: 527-2151 Classified: 527-2151 Circulation: 527-2151 News tips: 527-2153 Sports: 527-2153 Obituaries: 527-2151 Photo: 527-2153 On the Web www.redbluffdailynews.com Fax Newsroom: 527-9251 Classified: 527-5774 Retail Adv.: 527-5774 Legal Adv.: 527-5774 Business Office: 527-3719 Address 545 Diamond Ave. Red Bluff, CA 96080, or P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 Commentary Crime and punishment This is the first of a series of commentaries on crime and punishment. Please bear with me; I hope I am not as tedious as Fyodor Dostoyevsky . Working on these columns has turned out to be a journey of discovery, but when I started I thought I could write with righteous indignation. I have come to learn a lot in the last few weeks. While I was researching the commentary I wrote about the $500 million gift to the pharmaceutical company Amgen buried deeply within the fiscal cliff legislation, I came across several things that seemed to be related and piqued my curiosity. Those things included plea bargaining, accommodating the local impact of AB 109 prisoner realignment, the 50th anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright, the seemingly large number of failure to appear charges tacked on to the reported local arrests, and the peculiar circumstances that led to the release of the suspected murderer of a local school girl while he was being questioned about other matters. These things made me wonder about our criminal justice system, and I began this journey with a great deal of doubt. To the ���man on the street��� legal procedures and law enforcement seem a bit mysterious; we are taught to believe that we have a justice system to help us live in a safe and orderly society; we learn that the laws are there to help with order and provide a deterrent to crime; we believe that law enforcement exists to enforce, investigate, and apprehend suspected law breakers; and we have faith that prosecutors will bring alleged criminals to trial. A friend of mine who is a retired police chief once told me we do not have a justice system; we have a legal system and that the two systems are not the same. His comment was a criticism of our system; he indicated that what may be justice is not always the result of the legal system. We watch television shows like Law and Order and Crime Scene Investigation and see how crime can be solved and criminals put away, all between commercials. Alas, in the real world we hear about clogged courts, a failure of the U.S. Senate to approve judicial candidates, a slow appointment process by the Governor���s office to fill vacancies, a shortage of law enforcement personnel, and what at first glance seems to be egregious plea bargaining. What set me off on this rambling look at crime and punishment was the two front page articles in the Red Bluff Daily News on March 9. One article was about local monster truck celebrity Joe Froome and his companions who accepted a plea agreement, ���not to admit guilt but to accept punishment as if guilty in order to avoid going to trial ���according to his attorney. That sounded like a little double talk to me, but, as I stated, I do not have legal training. The attorney then stated that it was possible there would be no jail time. Some of the many charges against Froome involved failure to file income taxes. His attorney says he couldn't file because his records had been seized. At first glance I thought it sounded a little like Catch 22, incompetence, or the ���any port in a storm��� syndrome. In any case, more than three years after we first hear about the alleged crimes, there was apparently going to be just a slap on the wrist, without any public explanation. This was all confirmed in a Daily News article on March 19th in which it was reported that Froome was given a three year suspended sentence and 180 days of community service. On the same March 9 front page of the Daily News was an article about a Corning man who had been arrested on charges of voluntary manslaughter in the death of his brother. Both men had been drinking according to the defendant. This case stems from a much more recent event in November 2012, when the critique of plea bargaining as an alleged assailant got into a fight ���unnecessary evil��� in the Marwith his brother over collecting quette Law Review with: ���The more firewood; the charged man United States Supreme Court allegedly struck his brother on has acknowledged that plea bargaining would not exist in an the face, and his brother died. He was originally charged ���ideal world��� [according to Borwith voluntary manslaughter, denkircher vs. Hayes.] Fine but the charge had been reduced states there are three major reato ���assault with a deadly sons plea bargaining is an evil: it weapon by means likely to pro- subverts the deterrence of law; it weakens respect for duce great bodily the law; and it tends to injury.��� My guess is extort guilty pleas. He that if you cannot goes on to say that afford an outside attorAlaska essentially ney who specializes in successfully banned particular subjects, plea bargaining in ���justice��� moves faster. 1975, and the results In the March 19 Daily speak for themselves News edition it was as good. This made reported this man me feel my indignareceived a sentence of tion was warranted. one year in the county Fine may have jail. Joe oversimplified his For people like me praise of what has with no legal training, been called ���the it is difficult to underAlaskan experiment,��� stand how someone however. I read who allegedly caused reports by two comthe death of his brother can receive a reduced charge and missions which reviewed the a very light sentence. It is also results a few years after the difficult to understand how it Alaska���s change, and the results could take over three years, were mixed. Bargaining of one apparently with behind the kind or the other over charges or scenes rankling, to give a man sentences continues. Neverthewho allegedly didn���t pay his less one of the positives that taxes and cultivated seemingly came from that ���experiment��� unreasonable amounts of pot was that police work to docuonly 180 hours of community ment cases and arrests improved and prosecutors paid more attenservice. My first reaction was plea tion to the quality of the cases bargaining has been undermin- they built, so when a case was ing our criminal justice system, brought there was more likeliand that is when I was prepared hood it would be prosecuted to exude righteous indignation. I successfully. These findings reinforced my did take a deep breath and started to look into plea bargaining. I growing bias against plea barlooked at law review articles and gaining, but at this point I had interviewed some local attor- not spoken with local attorneys. neys; those attorneys had varied Next week I will review what I backgrounds and worked for the learned about plea bargaining defendants and the prosecution, after talking to practicing attorso I feel I have gotten good neys who have worked for the information about plea bargain- prosecution of alleged criminals ing. I was surprised by what I and for the defense. learned, and I have lost some of Joe Harrop is a retired the indignation I was trying to educator with more than 30 garner. I began by reading a law years of service to the North review article by Judge Ralph State. He can be reached at Adam Fine. Fine starts out his DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net. Harrop